Historical  Sketch  of  the 
Hawaiian  Fission 

By 
Samuel  Colcord  B^rtlett 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


ROBERT   ERNEST   COWAN 


HISTOEICAL  SKETCH 


OF     THE 


HAWAIIAN   MISSION, 


AND    THE    MISSIONS    TO 


MICRONESIA  AND  THE  MARQUESAS 
ISLANDS. 


BY 


PKOF.  S.  C.  BARTLETT,  D.D. 


BOSTON: 

AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

1869. 


2; 

5  i^«feK 

•»•     ir/v^  "  -^^5-t-'.      .  .•$   .  «•  1-fcS  5_ 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH 


OF    THE 


HAWAIIAN  MISSION, 


AND   THE   MISSIONS   TO 


MICRONESIA  AND  THE  MARQUESAS 
ISLANDS. 


BY 


PROF.  S.  C.  BARTLETT,  D.D, 


BOSTON: 

AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

1869. 


70 


SKETCH  OF  THE  HAWAIIAN  MISSION. 


IN  the  year  1809,  a  dark  skinned  boy  was  found  weeping  on  the 

door-steps  at  Yale  College.     His  name  was  Henry  Obookiah  (Opuka- 

haia) ;  and  he  came  from  the  Sandwich  Islands.     In  a  civil  war,  his 

father  and  mother  had  been  slain  before  his  eyes ;  and  when  he  fled 

with  his  infant  brother  on  his  back,  the  child  was  killed  with  a  spear, 

and  he  was  taken  prisoner.     Lonely  and  wretched,  the  poor  boy,  at 

the  age  of  fourteen,  was  glad  to  come,  with  Captain  Brintnell,  to 

New  Haven.      He  thirsted  for  instruction ;  and  he  lingered  round 

the  College  buildings,  hoping  in  some  way  to  gratify  his   burning 

co  desire.     But  when  at  length  all  hope  died  out,  he  sat  down  and  wept. 

',  The  Rev.  Edwin  W.  Dwight,  a  resident  graduate,  found  him  there,  and 

_  kindly  took  him  as  a  pupil. 

In  the  autumn   of    that  year  came  another  resident  graduate  to 
•a  New  Haven,   for  the   purpose  of  awakening  the   spirit  of  missions. 
~"  It  was  Samuel  J.  Mills.     Obookiah  told  Mills  his   simple    story  — 
*•_  how  the  people  of  Hawaii   "  are  very  bad ;  they  pray  to  gods  made 
g  of  wood ;  "  and  he  longs  "  to  learn  to  read  this  Bible,  and  go  back 
there  and  tell  them  to  pray  to  God  up  in  heaven."     Mills  wrote  to 
Gordon  Hall,  "  What  does  this  mean  ?     Brother  Hall,  do  you  under- 
stand it  ?     Shall  he  be  sent  back  unsupported,  to  attempt  to  reclaim 
his  countrymen  ?     Shall  we  not  rather  consider  these  southern  islands 
a  proper  place  for   the    establishment  of  a  mission  ? "     Mills  took 
Obookiah  to  his  own  home  in  Torringford,  and  thence  to  Andover 
for  a  two  years'  residence  ;  after  which  the  young  man  fouud  his  way 
to  the  grammar   school   at   Litchfield,  and   when  it  was  opened,  in 
1817,  to  the  Foreign  Mission  School  at  Cornwall,  Conn.     At  Litch- 
field he  became .  acquainted  and  intimate  with  Samuel  Ruggles,  who 
about  this  time  (1816)  resolved  to  accompany  him  to  his  native  island 
with  the  gospel. 

354986 


4  SKETCH   OP  THE   HAWAIIAN   MISSION. 

In  the  same  vessel  which  brought  Obookiah  to  America,  came 
two  other  Hawaiian  lads,  William  Tennooe  (Kanui)  and  Thomas  Hopu. 
After  roving  lives  of  many  years,  in  1815  they  were  both  converted 
—  Tennooe  at  New  Haven,  and  Hopu  after  he  had  removed  from 
New  Haven  to  Torringford.  Said  Hopu,  after  his  conversion,  "  I 
want  my  poor  countrymen  to  know  about  Christ."  These  young  men, 
too,  had  been  the  objects  of  much  personal  interest  in  New  Haven  ; 
and  in  the  following  June,  during  the  sessions  of  the  General  Associ- 
ation in  that  city,  a  meeting  was  called  by  some  gentlemen  to  discuss 
the  project  of  a  Foreign  Mission  School.  An  organization  was 
effected  under  the  American  Board  that  autumn,  at  the  house  of 
President  Dwight,  three  months  before  his  death.  Next  year  the 
school  opened.  Its  first  principal  was  Mr.  Edwin  Dwight,  who  found 
Obookiah  in  tears  at  Yale  College,  and  among  its  first  pupils  were 
Obookiah,  Tennooe,  Hopu,  and  two  other  Hawaiian  youths,  with 
Samuel  Ruggles  and  Elisha  Loomis. 

Bnt  Obookiah  was  never  to  carry  the  gospel  in  person  to  his 
countrymen.  God  had  a  wiser  use  for  him.  In  nine  months  from 
the  opening  of  the  Mission  School,  he  closed  a  consistent  Christian 
life  with  a  peaceful  Christian  death.  The  lively  interest  which  had 
been  gathering  round  him  was  profoundly  deepened  by  his  end  and 
the  memoir  of  his  life,  and  was  rapidly  crystallizing  into  a  mission. 
Being  dead,  he  yet  spoke  with  an  emphasis  and  an  eloquence  that 
never  would  have  been  given  him  in  his  life.  The  touching  story 
drew  legacies  from  the  dying,  and  tears,  prayers,  donations,  and  con- 
secrations from  the  living.  "  O  what  a  wonderful  thing,"  he  once 
had  said,  "  that  the  hand  of  Divine  Providence  has  brought  me  here 
from  that  heathenish  darkness.  And  here  I  have  found  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  have  read  that  his  blood 
was  shed  for  many.  My  poor  countrymen,  who  are  yet  living  in  the 
region  and  shadow  of  death !  —  I  often  feel  for  them  in  the  night 
season,  concerning  the  loss  of  their  souls.  May  the  Lord  Jesus 
dwell  in  my  heart,  and  prepare  me  to  go  and  spend  the  remainder  of 
my  life  with  them.  But  not  my  will,  but  thine,  O  Lord,  be  done." 

The  will  of  the  Lord  was  done.  The  coming  to  America  was  a 
more  "  wonderful  thing"  than  he  thought.  His  mantle  fell  on  other 
shoulders,  and  in  two  years  more  a  missionary  band  was  ready  for  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  Hopu,  Tennooe,  and  John  Honoree,  natives  of  the 
islands,  were  to  be  accompanied  by  Hiram  Bingham  and  Asa  Thurs- 
ton,  young  graduates  of  Andover,  Dr.  Thomas  Holman,  a  young  phy- 
sician, Daniel  Chamberlain,  a  substantial  farmer,  Samuel  Whitney, 
mechanic  and  teacher,  Samuel  Ruggles,  catechist  and  teacher,  and 


SKETCH   OP  THE  HAWAIIAN   MISSION.  5 

Elisha  Loomis,  printer  and  teacher.  All  the  Americans  were  accom- 
panied by  their  wives,  and  Mr.  Chamberlain  by  a  family  of  five 
children.  Mr.  Ruggles  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  determine 
upon  joining  the  mission,  and  Mr.  Loomis  had  been  a  member  of- 
the  Mission  School.  With  this  company  went  also  George  Tamoree 
(Kamaulii),  who  had  been  a  wanderer  in  America  for  fourteen  years, 
to  return  to  his  father,  the  subject  king  of  Kauai. 

The  ordination  of  Messrs.  Bingham  and  Thurston,  at  Goshen, 
Conn.,  drew  from  the  surrounding  region  a  large  assembly,  among 
whom  were  a  great  number  of  clergymen,  and  nearly  all  the  members 
of  the  Mission  School,  now  thirty  or  more  in  number;  and  "  liberal 
offerings  "  for  the  mission  came  in  "  from  all  quarters."  A  fortnight 
later,  the  missionary  band  were  organized  at  Boston  into  a  church  of 
seventeen  members  ;  public  services  were  held  Friday  evening  and 
Saturday  forenoon,  in  the  presence  of  "  crowded "  houses,  at  the 
Park-street  Church ;  and  on  the  Sabbath,  six  hundred  communicants 
sat  with  them  at  the  table  of  the  Lord.  "  The  occasion,"  says  the 
"  Panoplist "  of  that  date,  "  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
solemn  which  can  exist  in  this  world."  On  Saturday,  the  23rd 
of  October,  1819,  a  Christian  assembly  stood  upon  Long  Wharf,  and 
sang,  "  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds."  There  was  a  prayer  by  Dr. 
Worcester,  a  farewell  speech  by  Hopu,  a  song  by  the  missionaries, 
"  When  shall  we  all  meet  again ; "  and  a  fourteen  oared  barge 
swiftly  conveyed  the  little  band  from  their  weeping  friends  to  the 
brig  "  Thaddeus,"  which  was  to  carry  the  destiny  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands. 

While  the  missionaries  are  on  their  way,  let  us  take  a  look  at  the 
people  whom  they  were  going  to  reclaim.  The  ten  islands  of  the 
Hawaiian  group  —  an  area  somewhat  less  than  Massachusetts  — 
were  peopled  by  a  well  formed,  muscular  race,  with  olive  complexions 
and  open  countenances,  in  the  lowest  stages  of  barbarism,  sensuality, 
and  vice.  The  children  went  stark  naked  till  they  were  nine  or  ten 
years  old  ;  and  the  men  and  women  wore  the  scantiest  apology  for 
clothing,  which  neither  sex  hesitated  to  leave  in  the  hut  at  home 
before  they  passed  through  the  village  to  the  surf.  The  king  came 
more  than  once  from  the  surf  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Ruggles  with  his 
five  wives,  all  in  a  state  of  nudity ;  and  on  being  informed  of  the 
impropriety,  he  came  the  next  time  dressed  —  with  a  pair  of  silk 
stockings  and  a  hat !  The  natives  had  hardly  more  modesty  or  shame 
than  so  many  animals.  Husbands  had  many  wives,  and  wives  many 
husbands ;  and  exchanged  with  each  other  at  pleasure.  The  most 
revolting  forms  of  vice,  as  Captain  Cook  had  occasion  to  know,  were 


6  SKETCH    OF   THE   HAWAIIAN   MISSION. 

practiced  in  open  sight.  When  a  foreign  vessel  came  to  the  harbor, 
the  women  would  swim  to  it  in  flocks  for  the  vilest  of  purposes. 
Two  thirds  of  all  the  children,  probably,  were  destroyed  in  infancy  — 
strangled  or  buried  alive. 

The  nation  practiced  human  sacrifice ;  and  there  is  a  cord  now  at 
the  Missionary  Rooms,  Chicago,  with  which  one  high  priest  had 
strangled  twenty-three  human  victims.  They  were  a  race  of  perpetual 
thieves  ;  even  kings  and  chiefs  kept  servants  for  the  special  purpose 
of  stealing.  They  were  wholesale  gamblers,  and  latterly  drunkards. 
Thoroughly  savage,  they  seemed  almost  destitute  of  fixed  habits. 
When  food  was  plenty,  they  would  take  six  or  seven  meals  a  day, 
and  even  rise  in  the  night  to  eat ;  at  other  times  they  would  eat  but 
once  a  day,  or  perhaps  go  almost  fasting  for  two  or  three  days 
together.  And  for  purposes  of  sleep  the  day  and  the  night  were 
much  alike.  Science  they  had  none  ;  no  written  language,  nor  the 
least  conception  of  any  mode  of  communicating  thought  but  by  oral 
speech. 

A  race  that  destroyed  their  own  children  had  little  tender  mercy. 
Sons  often  buried  their  aged  parents  alive,  or  left  them  to  perish. 
The  sick  were  abandoned  to  die  of  want  and  neglect.  Maniacs  were 
stoned  to  death.  Captives  were  tortured  and  slain.  The  whole 
system  of  government  and  religion  was  to  the  last  degree  oppressive. 
The  lands,  their  products,  and  occupants,  were  the  property  of  the 
chiefs  and  the  king.  The  persons  and  power  of  the  high  chiefs  were 
protected  by  a  crushing  system  of  restrictions,  called  talus.  It  was 
tabu  and  death  for  a  common  man  to  let  his  shadow  fall  upon  a  chief, 
to  gcr  upon  his  house,  enter  his  enclosure,  or  wear  his  kapa,  to  stand 
when  the  king's  kapa  or  his  bathing  water  was  carried  by,  or  his 
name  mentioned  in  song.  In  these  and  a  multitude  of  other  ways, 
"men's  heads  lay  at  the  feet  of  the  king  and  the  chiefs."  In  like 
manner  it  was  tabu  for  a  woman  to  eat  with  her  husband,  or  to  eat 
fowl,  pork,  cocoanut,  or  banana  —  things  offered  to  the  idols — and 
death  was  the  penalty.  The  priest,  too,  came  in  with  his  tabus  and 
his  exactions  for  his  idols.  There  were  six  principal  gods  with 
names,  and  an  indefinite  number  of  spirits.  Whatsoever  the  priest 
demanded  for  the  god — food,  a  house,  land,  human  sacrifice  —  must 
be  forthcoming.  If  he  pronounced  a  day  tabu,  the  man  who  was 
found  in  a  canoe,  or  even  enjoying  the  company  of  his  family,  died. 
If  any  one  made  a  noise  when  prayers  were  saying,  or  if  the  priest 
pronounced  him  irreligious,  he  died.  When  a  temple  was  built,  and 
the  people  had  finished  the  toil,  some  of  them  were  offered  in  sacri- 
fice. In  all  these  modes,  the  oppression  of  the  nation  was  enormous. 


SKETCH   OF  THE   HAWAIIAN   MISSION.  7 

The  race  had  once  been  singularly  healthy.  They  told  the  first 
missionaries  —  an  exaggeration,  of  course  —  that  formerly  they  died 
only  of  old  age.  But  foreign  sailors  had  introduced  diseases,  repu- 
table, and  especially  disreputable  ;  and  now,  between  the  desolations 
of  war,  infanticide,  and  infamous  diseases  widely  spread  by  general 
licentiousness,  the  nation  was  rapidly  wasting  away. 

Such  was  the  forbidding  race  on  whom  the  missionaries  were  to 
try  the  power  of  the  cross.  "  Probably  none  of  you  will  live  to  wit- 
ness the  downfall  of  idolatry,"  —  so  said  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kellogg  to 
Mr.  Ruggles,  as  they  took  breakfast  together  at  East  Windsor,  the 
morning  before  he  left  home.  And  so  thought,  no  doubt,  the  whole 
community.  But  God's  thoughts  are  not  as  our  thoughts. 

Hopu  called  up  his  friend  Ruggles  at  one  o'clock  on  a  moonlight 
night  (March  31)  to  get  the  first  glimpse  of  Hawaii;  and  at  day- 
break the  snow-capped  peak  of  Mauna  Kea  was  in  full  view.  A  few 
hours  more,  and  Hopu  pointed  out  the  valley  where  he  was  born.  A 
boat  is  put  off,  with  Hopu  and  others  in  it,  which  encounters  some 
fishermen,  and  returns.  As  the  boat  nears  the  vessel,  Hopu  is  seen 
swinging  his  hat  in  the  air ;  and  as  soon  as  he  arrives  within  hail,  he 
shouts,  "  Oahu's  idols  are  no  more  !  "  On  coming  aboard,  he  brings 
the  thrilling  news  that  the  old  king  Kamehameha  is  dead  ;  that  Liho- 
liho,  his  son,  succeeds  him ;  that  the  images  of  the  gods  are  all 
burned ;  that  the  men  are  all  "  Inoahs,"  —  they  eat  with  the  women  ; 
that  but  one  chief  was  killed  in  settling  the  government,  and  he  for 
refusing  to  destroy  his  gods.  Next  day,  the  message  was  confirmed. 
Kamehameha,  a  remarkable  man,  had  passed  away.  On  his  death- 
bed, he  asked  an  American  trader  to  tell  him  about  the  Americans' 
God ;  but,  said  the  native  informant,  in  his  broken  English,  "  He 
no  tell  him  anything."  All  the  remaining  intelligence  was  also  true. 
The  missionaries  wrote  in  their  journal,  "  Sing,  O  heavens,  for  the 
Lord  hath  done  it."  The  brig  soon  anchored  in  Kailua  Bay,  the 
king's  residence  ;  and  a  fourteen  days'  consultation  between  the  king 
and  chiefs,  followed.  Certain  foreigners  opposed  their  landing  ;  "  they 
had  come  to  conquer  the  islands."  "  Then,"  said  the  chiefs,  "  they 
would  not  have  brought  their  women."  The  decision  was  favorable. 
Messrs.  Bingham,  Loomis,  Chamberlain,  and  Honoree,  go  to  Oahu  ; 
and  Messrs.  Ruggles  and  Whitney  accompany  the  young  Tamoree  to 
his  father,  the  subject  king  of  Kauai.  The  meeting  of  father  and 
son  was  deeply  affecting.  The  old  king,  for  his  son's  sake,  adopted 
Mr.  Ruggles  also,  as  his  son,  and  gave  him  a  tract  of  land,  with  the 
power  of  a  chief.  He  prepared  him  a  house,  soon  built  a  school-house 
and  chapel,  and  followed  him  with  acts  of  friendship  which  were  of 


8  SKETCH  OP   THE   HAWAIIAN  MISSION. 

great  benefit  to  the  mission  while  the  king  lived,  and  after  his  death. 
He  himself  became  a  hopeful  convert,  and  in  1824  died  in  the  faith. 

And  now  the  missionaries  settled  down  to  their  work.  They  had 
found  a  nation  sunk  in  ignorance,  sensuality  and  vice,  and  nominally 
without  a  religion  —  though,  really,  still  in  the  grasp  of  many  of 
their  old  superstitions.  The  old  religion  had  been  discarded  chiefly 
on  account  of  its  burdensomeness.  We  cannot  here  recount  all  the 
agencies,  outer  and  inner,  which  brought  about  this  remarkable  con- 
vulsion. But  no  religious  motives  seem  to  have  had  any  special 
power.  Indeed,  King  Liholiho  was  intoxicated  when  he  dealt  to 
the  system  its  finishing  stroke,  by  compelling  his  wives  to  eat  pork. 
And  by  a  Providence  as  remarkable  as  inscrutable,  the  high  priest 
threw  his  whole  weight  into  the  scale.  Into  this  opening,  thus  sig- 
nally furnished  by  the  hand  of  God,  the  missionaries  entered,  with 
wonder  and  gratitude.  The  natives  educated  in  America  proved  less 
serviceable  than  was  expected.  Tennooe  was  soon  excommunicated ; 
although  in  later  years  he  recovered,  and  lived  and  died  a  well- 
reputed  Christian.  Hopu  and  Honoree,  while  they  continued  faith- 
ful, had  partly  lost  their  native  tongue,  lacked  the  highest  skill  as 
interpreters,  and  naturally  failed  in  judgment.  Hopu,  at  the  opening 
of  the  first  revival,  was  found  busy  in  arranging  the  inquirers  on  his 
right  hand  and  his  left  hand,  respectively,  as  they  answered  yes  or 
no  to  the  single  question,  "  Do  you  love  your  enemies  ? "  and  was 
greatly  disturbed  at  being  interrupted. 

The  king  and  the  chiefs,  with  their  families,  were  the  first  pupils. 
They  insisted  on  the  privilege.  Within  three  months,  the  king  could 
read  the  English  language ;  and  in  six  months,  several  chiefs  could 
both  read  and  write.  The  missionaries  devoted  themselves  vigorously 
to  the  work  of  reducing  the  native  speech  to  writing ;  and  in  less 
than  two  years,  the  first  sheet  of  a  native  spelling-book  was  printed 
—  followed  by  the  second,  however,  only  after  the  lapse  of  six  months. 
From  time  to  time,  several  accessions  of  laborers  were  received  from 
America,  and  various  changes  of  location  took  place.  The  first  bap- 
tized native  was  Keopuolani,  the  mother  of  the  king  ;  and  others  of 
the  high  chiefs  were  among  the  earlier  converts.  The  leading  per- 
sonages, for  the  most  part,  showed  much  readiness  to  adopt  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  missionaries.  In  1824,  the  principal  chiefs  formally 
agreed  to  recognize  the  Sabbath,  and  to  adopt  the  ten  commandments 
as  the  basis  of  government.  They  also  soon  passed  a  law  forbidding 
females  to  visit  the  ships  for  immoral  purposes. 

The  gravest  obstacles  encountered,  came  from  vile  captains  and 
crews  of  English  and  American  vessels.  They  became  ferocious 


SKETCH   OF  THE   HAWAIIAN  MISSION.  9 

» 

towards  the  influences  and  the  men  that  checked  their  lusts.  The 
British  whale-ships  Daniel,  and  John  Palmer,  and  the  American 
armed  schooner  Dolphin,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Percival,  were 
prominent  in  open  outrage.  The  house  of  missionary  Richards  was 
twice  assailed  by  the  ruffians  of  the  ship  Daniel,  encouraged  by  their 
captain.  On  one  occasion,  they  came  and  demanded  his  influence  to 
repeal  the  law  against  prostitution.  On  his  refusal,  they,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  feeble  wife,  threatened,  with  horrid  oaths,  to  destroy  his 
property,  his  house,  his  life,  and  the  lives  of  all  his  family.  Two 
days  after,  forty  men  returned,  with  a  black  flag,  and  armed  with 
knives,  repeating  the  demand.  The  chiefs  at  length  called  out  a 
company  of  two  hundred  men,  armed  with  muskets  and  spears,  and 
drove  them  off.  The  crew  of  the  Dolphin,  with  knives  and  clubs, 
on  the  Sabbath,  assailed  a  small  religious  assembly  of  chiefs,  gathered 
at  the  house  of  one  of  their  number,  who  was  sick.  Mr.  Bingham, 
who  was  also  present,  fell  into  their  hands,  on  his  way  to  protect  his 
house,  and  barely  escaped  with  his  life  from  the  blow  of  a  club  and 
the  thrust  of  a  knife,  being  rescued  by  the  natives.  A  mob  of  Eng- 
lish and  American  whalemen,  in  October,  1826,  started  for  the  house 
of  Mr.  Richards,  at  Lahaina,  with  the  intention  of  taking  his  life. 
Not  finding  him,  they  pillaged  the  town  ;  while  all  the  native  women, 
from  a  population  of  4,000,  fled  from  their  lust,  for  refuge  in  the 
mountains.  A  year  later,  the  family  of  Mr.  Richards  took  refuge  in 
the  cellar,  from  the  cannon-balls  of  the  John  Palmer,  which  passed 
over  the  roof  of  the  house.  When  printed  copies  of  the  ten  com- 
mandments were  about  to  be  issued,  this  class  of  men  carried  their 
opposition,  with  threats,  before  the  king.  At  Honolulu,  while  the 
matter  was  pending,  Mr.  Ruggles  was  approached  by  an  American 
captain,  bearing  the  satirical  name  of  Meek,  who  flourished  his  dag- 
ger, and  angrily  declared  himself  ready  "  to  bathe  his  hands  in  the 
heart's  blood  of  every  missionary  who  had  any  thing  to  do  with  it." 
At  one  time,  twenty-one  sailors  came  up  the  hill,  with  clubs,  threat- 
ening to  kill  the  missionaries  unless  they  were  furnished  with  women. 
The  natives  gathering  for  worship,  immediately  thronged  round  the 
house  so  thick  that  they  were  intimidated,  and  sneaked  away. 
At  another  time,  fourteen  of  them  surrounded  him,  with  the  same 
demand  ;  but  were  frightened  off  by  the  resolute  bearing  of  the  noble 
chief  Kapiolani  —  a  majestic  woman,  six  feet  high  —  who,  arriving 
at  the  instant,  swung  her  umbrella  over  her  head,  with  the  crisp 
words,  "Be  off  in  a  moment,  or  I  will  have  every  one  of  you  in 
irons."  She  was  the  same  Christian  heroine  who,  in  1824,  broke  the 
terrible  spell  which  hung  over  the  volcano  Kilauea,  by  venturing  down 


10  SKETCH    OF   THE    HAWAIIAN    MISSION. 

« 

into  the  crater,  in  defiance  of  the  goddess  Pele,  hurling  stones  into  the 
boiling  lake,  and  worshiping  Jehovah  on  its  black  ledge. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  why  a  certain  class  of  captains  and  sailors 
have  always  pronounced  the  Sandwich  Islands  Mission  a  wretched 
failure. 

The  missionaries  labored  on  undaunted.  Eight  years  from  their 
landing  found  them  at  work,  some  thirty-two  in  number,  with  440 
native  teachers,  12,000  Sabbath  hearers,  and  26,000  pupils  in  their 
schools.  At  this  time,  about  fifty  natives,  including  Kaahumanu,  the 
Queen  Regent,  and  many  of  the  principal  chiefs,  were  members  of 
the  church.  And  now,  in  the  year  1828,  the  dews  of  heaven  began 
to  fall  visibly  upon  the  mission.  For  two  or  three  years,  the  way 
had  been  preparing.  Kaahumanu,  converted  in  1828,  and  several 
other  high  chiefs,  had  thrown  themselves  vigorously  and  heartily  into 
the  work.  "  They  made  repeated  tours  around  all  the  principal 
islands,"  says  Mr.  Dibble,  "  assembling  the  people  from  village  to 
village,  and  delivering  addresses  day  after  day,  in  which  they  prohib- 
ited immoral  acts,  enjoined  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  encour- 
aged the  people  to  learn  to  read,  and  exhorted  them  to  turn  to  God, 
and  to  love  and  obey  the  Saviour  of  sinners."  "The  effect  was 
electrical  —  pervading  at  once  every  island  of  the  group,  every  ob- 
scure village  and  district,  and  operating  with,  immense  power  on  all 
grades  and  conditions  of  society.  The  chiefs  gave  orders  to  the  peo- 
ple to  erect  houses  of  worship,  to  build  school-houses,  and  to  learn  to 
read  —  they  readily  did  so  ;  to  listen  to  the  instructions  of  the  mis- 
sionaries —  they  at  once  came  in  crowds  for  that  purpose."  About 
this  time,  too,  (May,  1825,)  the  remains  of  King  Liholiho  and  his  wife 
were  brought  back  from  their  unfortunate  expedition  to  England, 
where  they  died  from  the  measles.  Their  attending  chiefs  filled  the 
ears  of  the  people  with  what  they  saw  in  England  ;  and  Lord  Byron, 
commander  of  the  British  frigate  which  brought  the  remains,  gave  an 
honorable  testimony  to  the  missionaries. 

These  various  influences  caused  a  great  rush  to  hear  the  Word  of 
God.  The  people  would  come  regularly,  fifty  or  sixty  miles,  travel- 
ing the  whole  of  Saturday,  to  attend  Sabbath  worship  ;  and  would 
gather  in  little  companies,  from  every  point  of  the  compass,  like  the 
tribes  as  they  went  up  to  Jerusalem.  Meanwhile,  the  printed  word 
was  circulated  throughout  the  villages. 

At  length  the  early  fruits  appeared.  In  the  year  1828,  a  gracious 
work  began,  simultaneously  and  without  communication,  in  the  islands 
of  Hawaii,  Oahu,  and  Maui.  It  came  unexpectedly.  The  transac- 
tions at  Kaavarba  (Hawaii)  well  illustrate  the  work.  Mr.  Ruggles 


SKETCH    OP   THE   HAWAIIAN    MISSION.  11 

was  away  from  home,  with  Mr.  Bishop,  on  an  excursion  to  visit  the 
schools  of  the  island.  They  had  been  wrecked,  and  had  swum 
ashore.  Two  natives  who  were  sent  home  for  shoes  and  clothing, 
brought  a  message  from  Mrs.  Ruggles  to  her  husband,  requesting  his 
immediate  return,  for  "  strange  things  were  happening  —  the  natives 
were  coming  in  companies,  inquiring  what  they  should  do  to  be 
saved."  He  hastened  back,  and  found  the  house  surrounded  from 
morning  till  night,  and  almost  from  night  till  morning.  A  company 
of  ten  or  twenty  would  be  received  into  the  house,  and  another  com- 
pany would  wait  their  turn  at  the  gate.  So  it  went  on  for  weeks,  and 
even  months,  and  the  missionaries  could  get  no  rest  or  refreshment, 
except  as  they  called  in  Kapiolani  and  others  of  the  converted  chiefs, 
to  relieve  them.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ruggles  had  the  names  of  2,500 
inquirers  on  their  books.  With  multitudes,  it  was,  no  doubt,  but 
sympathy  or  fashion  ;  but  there  were  also  a  large  number  of  real 
inquirers,  and  many  hopeful  conversions.  All  the  converts  were  kept 
in  training  classes  a  year,  before  they  were  admitted  to  the  church, 
and  then  only  on  the  strictest  examination.  During  the  two  follow- 
ing years,  350  persons  were  received  to  communion  at  the  several 
stations.  For  a  time,  the  work  seemed  to  lull  again.  But  in  1836, 
the  whole  aspect  of  the  field  was  so  inviting  that  the  Board  sent 
out  a  strong  missionary  reinforcement  of  thirty-two  persons,  male 
and  female. 

At  this  time,  and  for  the  following  year,  the  hearts  of  the  mission- 
aries Avere  singularly  drawn  out  in  desires  and  prayers  for  the  conver- 
sion, not  only  of  the  Islands,  but  of  America  and  of  the  world.  And 
scarcely  had  the  new  laborers  been  assigned  to  their  places,  and 
learned  the  language,  when  (in  1838)  there  began  and  continued,  for 
six  years,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  awakenings  that  the  world  has 
ever  witnessed.  All  hearts  seemed  tender.  Whenever  the  Word 
was  preached,  conviction  and  conversions  followed.  The  churches 
roused  up  to  self-examination  and  prayer ;  the  stupid  listened ;  the 
vile  and  groveling  learned  to  feel ;  the  congregations  became  im- 
mense, and  sometimes  left  their  churches  for  the  open  air,  and  the 
prayer-meetings  left  the  lecture-room  for  the  body  of  the  church. 
There  were  congregations  of  four,  five  and  six  thousand  persons. 
The  missionaries  preached  from  seven  to  twenty  times  a  week ;  and 
the  sense  of  guilt  in  the  hearers  often  broke  forth  in  groans  and  loud 
cries.  Probably  many  indiscretions  were  committed,  and  there  were 
many  spurious  conversions.  But,  after  all  allowances,  time  showed 
that  a  wonderful  work  was  wrought.  During  the  six  years  from 
1838  to  1843,  inclusive,  twenty-seven  thousand  persons  were  admit- 


12  SKETCH   OP  THE   HAWAIIAN   MISSION. 

ted  to  the  churches.  In  some  instances,  the  crowds  to  be  baptized 
on  a  given  Sabbath  required  extraordinary  modes  of  baptism  ;  and 
Mr.  Coan  is  said  to  have  sprinkled  water  with  a  brush  upon  the  can- 
didates, as  they  came  before  him  in  throngs. 

The  next  twenty  years  added  more  than  20,000  other  members  to 
the  churches,  making  the  whole  number  received  up  to  1863,  some 
50,000  souls.  Many  of  these  had  then  been  excommunicated  —  in 
some  instances,  it  was  thought,  too  hastily  ;  many  thousand  had 
gone  home  to  heaven  ;  and  in  1863,  some  20,000  still  survived  in 
connection  with  the  churches. 

At  length  came  the  time  when  the  Islands  were  to  be  recognized 
as  nominally  a  Christian  nation,  and  the  responsibility  of  their  Chris- 
tian institutions  was  to  be  rolled  off  upon  themselves.  In  June, 
1863,  Dr.  Anderson,  Senior  Secretary  of  the  American  Board,  met 
with  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association  to  discuss  this  important 
measure.  After  twenty-one  days  of  debate,  the  "result  was  reached 
with  perfect  unanimity,  and  the  Association  agreed  to  assume  the 
responsibility  which  had  been  proposed  to  them.  This  measure 
was  consummated  by  the  Board  in  the  autumn  following,  and  those 
stations  no  longer  looked  to  the  American  churches  for  management 
and  control.  "  The  mission  has  been,  as  such,  disbanded  and  merged 
in  the  community." 

On  the  15th  of  January,  1864,  at  Queen's  Hospital,  Honolulu, 
died  William  Kanui,  (Tennooe,)  aged  sixty-six  years,  the  last  of  the 
native  youth  who  gave  rise  to  the  mission  and  accompanied  the  first 
missionaries.  He  had  wandered  —  had  been  excommunicated  —  and 
was  restored ;  and  after  many  years  of  faithful  service  he  died  in  the 
triumph  of  faith.  In  his  last  sickness  he  used  "  to  recount  the  won- 
derful ways  "  in  which  God  had  led  him.  "  The  names  of  Cornelius, 
Mills,  Beecher,  Daggett,  Prentice,  Griffin,  and  others  were  often  on 
his  lips  ;  "  and  he  went,  no  doubt,  to  join  them  all  above.  God  had 
spared  his  life  to  see  the  whole  miraculous  change  that  had  lifted  his 
nation  from  the  depths  of  degradation  to  civilization  and  Christianity. 
Could  the  spirit  of  Henry  Obookiah  have  stood  in  Honolulu  soon 
after  the  funeral  of  Kanui,  he  would  have  hardly  recognized  his  na- 
tive island  except  by  its  great  natural  landmarks.  He  would  have 
seen  the  city  of  Honolulu,  once  a  place  of  grass  huts  and  filthy 
lanes,  now  marked  by  substantial  houses  and  sidewalks,  and  a  gen- 
eral air  of  civilization ;  a  race  of  once  naked  savages  decently  attired 
and  living,  some  of  them,  in  comparative  refinement ;  a  nation  of 
readers,  whom  he  left  without  an  alphabet ;  Christian  marriage  firm- 
ly established  in  place  of  almost  promiscuous  concubinage  ;  property 


SKETCH   OP  THE    HAWAIIAN   MISSION.  13 

in  the  interior,  exposed  with  absolute  security  for  an  indefinite  time, 
where  formerly  nothing  was  safe  for  an  hour ;  the  islands  dotted  with 
a  hundred  capacious  church  edifices,  built  by  native  hands,  some  of 
them  made  of  stone,  most  of  them  with  bells  ;  a  noble  array  of  several 

hundred  common  schools,  two  female    seminaries,  a  normal   school 

* 

for  natives,  a  high  school  that  furnished  the  first  scholar  to  one  of  the 
classes  in  Williams  College  ;  a  theological  seminary  and  twenty-nine 
native  preachers,  besides  eighteen  male  and  female  missionaries  sent 
to  the  Marquesas  Islands  ;  near  twenty  thousand  living  church  mem- 
bers ;  a  government  with  a  settled  constitution,  a  legislature,  and 
courts  of  justice,  and  avowing  the  Christian  religion  to  be  "  the 
established  national  religion  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands." 

These  facts  exhibit  the  bright  and  marvelous  aspect  of  the  case. 
But,  of  course,  they  have  their  drawbacks.  The  Sandwich  Islands 
are  not  Paradise,  nor  even  America.  The  stage  of  civilization  is,  as 
it  must  be,  far  below  that  of  our  own  country.  The  old  habits  still 
shade  into  the  new.  Peculiar  temptations  to  intemperance  and  licen- 
tiousness come  down  by  inheritance.  Foreign  interventions  and 
oppositions  have  been  and  still  are  grave  hindrances.  Church  mem- 
bers but  fifty  years  removed  from  a  state  of  brutalism,  can  not  and 
do  not  show  the  stability,  intelligence,  and  culture  of  those  who 
inherit  the  Christian  influences  of  a  thousand  years. 

But  the  amazing  transformation  of  the  islands  is  a  fact  that  de- 
pends not  alone  on  the  estimates  of  the  missionaries,  or  of  the  Board 
that  employed  them.  The  most  generous  testimonies  have  come  from 
other  sources.  The  Rev.  F.  S.  Rising,  of  the  American  Church 
Missionary  Society,  explored  the  Islands  in  1866,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  testing  the  question.  He  visited  nearly  every  mission 
station,  examined  the  institutions  —  religious,  educational,  social ; 
made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  the  missionaries  of  all  creeds,  and 
conversed  with  persons  of  every  profession  and  social  grade.  And 
he  writes  to  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Board :  "  The  deeper  I 
pushed  my  investigations,  the  stronger  became  my  conviction,  that 
what  had  been  on  your  part  necessarily  an  experimental  work  in 
modern  missions  had,  under  God,  proved  an  eminent  success.  Every 
sunrise  brought  me  new  reasons  for  admiring  the  power  of  divine 
grace,  which  can  lift  the  poor  out  of  the  dust,  and  set  him  among 
princes.  Every  sunsetting  gave  me  fresh  cause  to  bless  the  Lord 
for  that  infinite  love  which  enables  us  to  bring  to  our  fellow-men  such 
rich  blessings  as  your  missionaries  have  bestowed  on  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  To  me  it  seemed  marvelous,  that  in  comparatively  so  few- 
years,  the  social,  political,  and  religious  life  of  the  Cation  should  have 


14  SKETCH  OP  THE   HAWAIIAN    MISSION. 

undergone  so  radical  and  blessed  a  change  as  it  had.  Looking  at 
the  kingdom  of  Hawaii-nei  as  it  to-day  has  its  recognize'd  place 
among  the  world's  sovereignties,  I  can  not  but  see  in  it  one  of  the 
brightest  trophies  of  the  power  of  the  cross."  "  What  of  Hawaiian 
Christianity  ?  I  would  apply  to  it  the  same  test  by  which  we 
measure  the  Christianity  of  our  own  and  other  lands.  There  are 
certain '  outward  signs  which  indicate  that  it  has  a  high  place  in  the 
national  respect,  conscience,  and  affection.  Possessing  these  visible 
marks,  we  declare  of  any  country  that  it  is  Christian.  The  Hawaiian 
kingdom,  for  this  reason,  is  properly  and  truly  called  so.  The  con- 
stitution recognizes  the  Christian  faith  as  the  religion  of  the  nation. 
The  Bible  is  found  in  almost  every  hut.  Prayer  —  social,  family, 
and  individual  —  is  a  popular  habit.  The  Lord's  day  is  more  sacredly 
observed  than  in  New  York.  Churches  of  stone  or  brick  dot  the 
valleys  and  crown  the  hill-tops,  and  have  been  built  by  the  voluntary 
contributions  of  the  natives.  There  the  Word  is  preached  and  the 
sacraments  administered.  Sunday  schools  abound.  The  contribu- 
tions of  the  people  for  religious  uses  are  very  generous,  and  there  is 
a  native  ministry,  growing  in  numbers  and  influence,  girded  for 
carrying  on  the  work  so  well  begun.  The  past  history  of  the  Ha- 
waiian mission  abounds  with  bright  examples  [of  individual  right- 
eousness], like  Kaahumanu  and  Kapiolani,  and  some  were  pointed 
out  to  me  as  I  went  to  and  fro.  They  were  at  one  time  notoriously 
wicked.  Their  lives  are  manifestly  changed.  They  are  striving  to 
be  holy  in  their  hearts  and  lives.  They  are  fond  of  the  Bible,  of 
the  sanctuary  and  prayer.  Their  theology  may  be  crude,  but  their 
faith  in  Christ  is  simple  and  tenacious.  And  when  we  see  some  such 
in  every  congregation,  we  know  that  the  work  has  not  been  altogether 
in  vain."  In  1860,  Richard  H.  Dana,  Esq.,  a  distinguished  Boston 
lawyer,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  gave  a  similar  testimony  in  the 
New  York  "  Tribune,"  during  his  visit  to  the  Islands.  Among  other 
things,  he  mentions  that  "  the  proportion  of  inhabitants  who  can 
read  and  write  is  greater  than  in  New  England ; "  that  they  may  be 
seen  "  going  to  school  and  public  worship  with  more  regularity  than 
the  people  at  home ;  "  that  after  attending  the  examination  of  Oahu 
College,  he  "  advised  the  young  men  to  remain  there  to  the  end  of 
their  course  [then  extending  only  to  the  Junior  year],  as  they  could 
not  pass  the  Freshman  and  Sophomore  years  more  profitably  else- 
where, in  my  judgment ; "  that  "  in  no  place  in  the  world,  that  I  have 
visited,  are  the  rules  which  control  vice  and  regulate  amusement  so 
strict,  yet  so  reasonable,  and  so  fairly  enforced ;  "  that  "  in  the  inte- 
rior it  is  well  known  that  a  man  may  travel  alone  with  money,  through 


SKETCH    OF    THE    HAWAIIAN   MISSION.  15 

the  wildest  spots,  unarmed ; "  and  that  he  "  found  no  hut  without 
its  Bible  and  hymn  book  in  the  native  tongue  ;  and  the  practice  of 
family  prayer  and  grace  before  meat,  though  it  be  no  more  than  a 
calabash  of  poi  and  a  few  dried  fish,  and  whether  at  home  or  on  a 
journey,  is  as  common  as  in  New  England  a  century  ago." 

There  is  one  sad  aspect  about  this  interesting  people.  The  popu- 
lation has  been  steadily  declining  since  they  were  first  discovered. 
Cook,  in  1773,  estimated  the  number  of  inhabitants  at  400,000. 
This  estimate,  long  thought  to  be  exaggerated,  is  now  supposed  to  be 
not  far  from  the  truth.  But  in  1823,  wars,  infanticide,  foreign  lust, 
imported  drinks,  and  disease,  had  reduced  them  to  the  estimated 
number  of  142,000  ;  and  in  1830,  to  the  ascertained  number  of 
130,000.  In  the  lapse  of  a  few  years  after  the  first  visits  of  foreign 
vessels,  half  the  population  are  said  to  have  been  swept  away  with 
diseases  induced  or  heightened  by  their  unholy  intercourse.  The 
mission  has  done  what  could  be  done  to  save  the  nation ;  but  the 
wide  taint  of  infamous  disease  was  descending  down  the  national  life, 
before  the  missionaries  reached  the  islands ;  and  the  flood-gates  of 
intemperance  were  wide  open.  They  have  retarded  the  nation's 
decline ;  but  foreign  influences  have  always  interfered  —  and  now, 
perhaps,  more  than  ever.  The  sale  of  ardent  spirits  was  once 
checked,  but  is  now  free.  The  present  monarch  stands  aloof  from 
the  policy  of  some  of  his  predecessors,  and  from  the  influence  of  our 
missionaries.  And  the  population,  reduced  to  62,000  in  1866,  seems 
to  be  steadily  declining.  The  "  Pacific  Commercial  Advertiser," 
which  furnishes  the  facts,  finds  the  chief  cause  in  the  fearful  preva- 
lence, still,  of  vice  and  crime,  which  are  said  to  have  been  increasing 
of  late  ;  and  the  reason  for  this  increase  is  "  political  degradation," 
and  the  readiness  with  which  the  people  now  obtain  intoxicating 
drinks.  It  must  be  remembered,  that  "  in  the  height  of  the  whaling 
season,  the  number  of  transient  seamen  in  the  port  of  Honolulu  equals 
half  the  population  of  the  town ; "  and  the  influences  they  bring, 
breathe  largely  of  hell.  Commercial  forces  and  movements,  mean- 
while, are  changing  the  islands.  The  lands  are  already  passing  into 
the  hands  of  foreign  capitalists,  and  the  islands  are  falling  into  the 
thoroughfare  of  the  nations. 

The  proper  sequel,  therefore,  of  this  grand  missionary  triumph 
may  be  taken  away ;  and  the  race  itself,  as  a  nation,  may  possibly 
cease  to  be.  But  in  no  event  can  the  value  or  the  glory  of  the  work 
achieved  be  destroyed.  Not  only  will  thousands  on  thousands  of 
human  souls  thereby  have  been  brought  into  the  kingdom,  by  the 
labor  of  a  hundred  missionaries,  and  the  expenditure  of  perhaps  a 


16  SKETCH   OP  THE   HAWAIIAN   MISSION. 

million  of  dollars  from  America  ;  but  a  grand  experiment  will  have  been 
tried  before  the  world,  and  an  imperishable  memorial  erected  for  all 
time,  of  what  the  remedial  power  of  the  gospel  can  accomplish,  in 
an  incredibly  short  time,  upon  a  most  imbruted  race.  "  Fifty  years 
ago,"  says  Dr.  A.  P.  Peabody,  "  the  half-reasoning  elephant,  or  the 
tractable  and  troth-keeping  dog,  might  have  seemed  the  peer,  or 
more,  of  the  unreasoning  and  conscienceless  Hawaiian.  From  that 
very  race,  from  that  very  generation,  with  which  the  nobler  brutes 
might  have  scorned  to  claim  kindred,  have  been  developed  the  peers 
of  saints  and  angels."  And  all  the  more  glorious  is  the  movement, 
that  the  nation  was  sunk  so  low,  and  was  so  rapidly  wasting  away. 
"  If  the  gospel,"  says  Dr.  Anderson,  "  took  the  people  at  the  lowest 
point  of  social  existence  —  at  death's  door,  when  beyond  the  reach 
of  all  human  remedies,  with  the  causes  of  decline  and  destruction  all 
in  their  most  vigorous  operation  —  and  has  made  them  a  Christian 
people,  checked  the  tide  of  depopulation,  and  raised  the  nation  so  jn 
the  scale  of  social  life,  as  to  have  gained  for  it  an  acknowledged  place 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  what  more  wonderful  illustration  can 
there  be  of  its  remedial  power  ?  " 

The  history  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  will  stand  forever  as  the  vin- 
dication, to  the  caviler,  of  the  worth  of  Christian  missions,  and  as  a 
demonstration  to  the  Christian,  of  what  they  might  be  expected  to 
accomplish  in  other  lands,  if  prosecuted  with  a  vigor  at  all  propor- 
tioned to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  field,  and  crowned  with  the 
blessing  of  God. 


As  indicating,  somewhat,  the  present  condition  at  the  Islands  of 
that  Christian  work  for  which  so  much  effort  has  been  made,  it  may 
be  well  to  add  here  a  few  sentences  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the 
American  Board  for  1868  :  — 

"  The  Christianity  of  the  Islands  has  had  severe  trials  of  late,  from 
the  attitude  of  the  government,  and  the  opposition  of  corrupt  and 
corrupting  officials.  .  .  .  The  gospel  is  on  trial ;  the  missionaries, 
the  native  pastors,  and  the  faithful  followers  of  Christ  in  the  native 
churches  and  among  the  foreign  population,  are  deserving  of  a  large 
place  in  the  sympathies  and  prayers  of  Christian  men  the  world  over, 
as  against  such  odds  —  an  unfriendly  government,  the  intrigues  of  the 
Papacy  and  of  the  Reformed  Catholics,  the  opposition  of  ungodly 
men,  who  would  perpetuate  vice  and  immorality  for  their  own  wicked 
ends,  and  the  tendency  of  the  natives,  not  yet  fully  confirmed  in  habits 
of  virtue,  to  yield  to  the  pressure  of  evil  within  and  without  —  they 
still  press  on  with  the  banner  of  the  cross. 


SKETCH   OP  THE   HAWAIIAN  MISSION. 


17 


"  The  addition  of  827  members  to  the  native  churches  on  profes- 
sion of  faith,  the  contribution  of  $29,023  to  various  Christian  objects, 
the  sending  out  of  new  missionaries,  the  almost  entire  support  of  their 
own  Christian  institutions,  the  past  year,  are  evidences  that  the  good 
work  is  nobly  maintained.  .  .  . 

"  There  are  now  twenty-six  native  pastors,  settled  over  as  many 
churches,  besides  four  licensed  preachers,  having  stated  charges,  all 
supported  by  the  Hawaiian  churches.  And  there  are  thirteen  Ha- 
waiian missionaries  in  the  Marquesas  and  in  Micronesia,  —  eight 
ordained  ministers  and  five  licensed  preachers." 

The  following  list  presents  the  names  of  persons  who  have  been 
sent  out  by  the  American  Board,  in  connection  with  its  work  at  these 
Islands.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  quite  a  number  of  the 
children  of  missionaries,  and  some  other  persons,  not  named  in  this 
list,  are  or  have  been  engaged  in  educational  and  evangelizing  labors 
at  the  Islands,  some  of  them  supported  wholly  or  in  part  by  the  Board, 
and  others  entirely  by  those  for  whom  they  labor.  It  should  also  be 
said,  that  many  of  those  sent  out  by  the  Board,  and  still  living  and 
laboring  at  the  Islands,  no  longer  receive  support  from  the  funds  of 
the  Board.  Those  who  are  now  sustained,  wholly  or  in  part,  by  the 
Board  are  designated  by  the  letter  A  against  their  names.  Those 
known  to  have  died  are  marked  with  a  * :  — 


NAVIES. 

Sailed  for  the 
Mission. 

Left  or 
Released. 

Died. 

Rev.  Hiram  Bingham  
Mrs.  Sybil  Bingham.* 
Eev.  Asa  Thurston.*        .... 
Mrs.  Lucy  G.  Thurston.  A  .        .        . 
Mr.  Daniel  Chamberlain. 
Mrs.  Chamberlain  
Mr.  Samuel  Whitney.*    .... 
Mrs.  Mercy  Whitney.  A       ... 

Oct.  23,  1819. 
i 

1841 
ii 

1823 
u 

1820 

1848 
1868 

1845 
1821 

Mrs.  Lucia  Holman  
Mr.  Elisha  Loomis.          .... 
Mrs.  Maria  T.  Loomis. 

« 
1827 

1834 

Mrs.  Nancy  Ruggles  
Rev.  Wm.  Richards.*      .... 

NOT.  19   1822. 

« 
1838 

1847 

Mrs.  Clarissa  Richards.*     .        . 
Rev.  Chas.  S.  Stewart  
Mrs.  Harriet  B.  Stewart.*  . 
Rev.  Artemas  Bishop  
Mrs.  E.  E.  Bishop.*    .... 

« 

1825 
« 

« 

1828 

Dr.  Abraham  Blatchley.           .        . 
Mrs.  Jemima  Blatchley. 
Mr.   Joseph  Goodrich   (ordained  at  the 

i 

i« 

1826 
<( 

1836 

2 

18 


SKETCH    OP   THE   HAWAIIAN  MISSION. 


NAMES. 


Mrs.  Goodrich. 

Mr.  James  Ely 

Mrs.  Louisa  Ely.      .         . 
Mr.  Levi  Chamberlain.* 
Kev.  Lorrin  Andrews.*    . 

Mrs.  Andrews 

Rev.  E.  W.  Clark.  A 
Mrs.  Mary  K.  Clark.* 
Rev.  J.  S.  Green.     . 
Mrs.  T.  A.  Green. 
Rev.  P.  J.  Gulick.  . 
Mrs.  F.  H.  Gulick.      . 
Mrs.  M.  P.  Chamberlain.  A 
Mr.  Stephen  Shepard.* 
Mrs.  M.  C.  Shepard. 

Dr.  G.  P.  Judd 

Mrs.  L.  P.  Judd.      . 

Miss  M.  C.  Og'den.  A  • 

Miss  Delia  Stone  (Mrs.  Bishop). 

Miss  Mary  Ward  (Mrs.  Rogers).* 

Rev.  Dwight  Baldwin,  M.  D.  A 

Mrs.  C.  F.  Baldwin.  A 

Rev.  Sheldon  Dibble.*    . 

Mrs.  M.  M.  Dibble.*  . 

Mr.  Andrew  Johnstone.  . 

Mrs.  Johnstone.* 

Rev.  Reuben  Tinker.*     . 

Mrs.  M.  T.  Tinker.      . 

Rev.  J.  S.  Emerson.* 

Mrs.  Ursula  S.  Emerson.  A 

Rev.  D.  B.  Lyman.  A 

Mrs.  Sarah  J.  Lyman.  A 

Rev.  Ephraim  Spaulding.* 

Mrs.  Julia  Spaulding. 

Rev.  W.  P.  Alexander.  A 

Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Alexander.  A 

Rev.  Richard  Armstrong.* 

Mrs.  Clarissa  Armstrong.    .        . 

Rev.  Cochran  Forbes. 

Mrs.  Rebecca  D.  Forbes.     . 

Rev.  H.  R.  Hitchcock.*  . 

Mrs.  Rebecca  Hitchcock.     . 

Rev.  Lorenzo  Lyons.  A   . 

Mrs.  Betsey  Lyons.*   .        .. 

Dr.  Alonzo  Chapin. 

Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Chapin. 

Mr.  Ed.  H.  Rogers.* 

Rev.  Benjamin  W.  Parker.  A 

Mrs.  Mary  E.  Parker.  A 

Rev.  Lowell  Smith.  A          ... 

Mrs.  Abby  W.  Smith.  A  . 

Mr.  Lemuel  Fuller.     .        ..        . 

Rev.  Titus  Coan.  A  . 

Mrs.  Fidelia  C.  Coan.  A       . 

Mr.  Henry  Dimond.        .        . 

Mrs.  Ann  M.  Dimond.         .        . 

Mr.  E.  O.  Hall. 

Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Hall.     . 


Sailed  for  the 
Mission. 


Nov.  19, 1822. 


Nov.  3,  1827. 


Dec.  28, 1830. 


Nov.  2G,  1831 


Nov.  2,  1832. 


Dec.  5, 1834. 


Left  or 
Released 


1836 

1828 


1842 


1842 


1835 
1842 


1836 

<i 

1840 


1837 
it 

1849 

« 

1847 
H 

1835 

14 

1833 
1849 


Died. 


1849 
1868 


1857 


1834 


1834 


1845 
1837 


1867 
1840 
1860 

1855 
1837 
1853 


SKETCH    OF   THE   HAWAIIAN   MISSION. 


19 


NAMES. 

Sailed  for  the 
Mission. 

Left  or 
Released. 

Died. 

Miss  Lydia  Brown.*         .... 
Miss  E.  M.  Hitchcock*  (Mrs.  Kogers). 

Dec.  5,  1834. 
Dec.  4,  1836. 

1841 

1865 
1857 

Mrs.  Emily  Bliss  
Rev  D.  T   Conde.  ..... 

c 

« 

<( 
1858 

( 

1854 

c 

1853 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Ives.      .... 
Rev.  Thomas  Lafon,  M.  D.     . 
Mrs.  Sophia  L.  Lafon.          .         . 

t 
< 
< 
i 

<t 

1840 
u 

1849 

Mrs.  Parnelly  Andrews.*     . 

< 
< 

u 

1852 

1846 

Mrs.  Juliette  M.  Cooke.      .        .        . 
Mr.  Wm.  S.  Van  Duzee. 
Mrs.  Oral  Van  Duzee. 
Mr.  Edward  Bailey.         .... 
Mrs.  Caroline  H.  Bailey.     . 
Mr.  Abner  Wilcox.  A       .... 
Mrs.  Lucy  E.  Wilcox.  A      ... 
Mr.  Horton  O.  Knapp.*  .... 
Mrs.  Charlotte  Knapp.          .        .        . 
Mr.  Charles  McDonald.* 
Mrs.  Harriet  T.  McDonald. 
Mr.  Edwin  Locke.*          .... 
Mrs.  Martha  L.  Locke.* 
Mr.  Bethuel  Munn.          .... 
Mrs.  Louisa  Munn.*     .... 
Mr.  Samuel  N.  Castle  
Mrs.  Angelina  L.  Castle.*  . 
Mr.  Edward   Johnson*    (ordained  after 

< 
i 
(i 

M 

( 
( 
1 
c 
« 
( 
< 
( 
M 
(I 
« 
« 
(f 

II 

ii 

1839 
« 

1850 
« 

1842 
185J2 

1845 
1839 

1843 
1842 

1841 
1840 
J867 

Mrs.  Lois  S.  Johnson.  A           ... 
Miss  Marcia  Smith.      .... 
Miss  Lucy  G.  Smith  (Mrs.  Lyons). 

II 
U 

11 

Nov.  14,  1840. 

1853 

Mrs.  Charlotte  C.  Dole.* 
Rev.  Elias  Bond.  A     ..         ... 
Mrs.  Ellen  M.  Bond.  A    .         .         .        . 

« 
« 
<( 

1844 

Rev.  John  D.  Paris.  A 

«( 
ii 

Mr.  William  H.  Rice.* 
Mrs.  Marv  S.  'Rice.  A      
Rev.  Geo."  B.  Rowell.  .         . 
Mrs.  Malvina  J.  Rowell. 
Dr.  James  W.  Smith.  A       ... 
Mrs.  M.  K.  Smith.  A        ..... 

ii 

May  5,  1841. 
ii 
ii 

.( 
1842 

1865 
ii 

1846 

1862 

Mrs.  Smith  
Mrs.  Mary  T.  Castle  

it 

Nov.  2,  1-842. 

u 

1852 

Dec.  4,  1843. 

Rev.  T.  D  wight  Hunt. 

«          ' 
>« 

1849 

K 

Rev.  John  F.  Pogue.  A 
Rev.  Eliphalet  Whittlesey. 
Mrs.  Eliza  H.  Whittlesey.  . 
Miss  Maria  K.  Whitney  (Mrs.  Pogue).  A 
Rev.  Samuel  G.  Dwight. 

<( 
M 
u 
ii 

Oct.  23,  1847. 

1854 
« 

« 

20 


SKETCH    OF   THE    HAWAIIAN    MISSION. 


NAMES. 

Sailed  for  the 
Mission. 

Left  or 
Released. 

Died. 

Oct.  23,  1847. 

1854 

Mrs.  Maria  L.  Kinney.* 
Dr.  C.  H.  Wetmore  
Mrs.  Lucy  S.  Wetmore. 
Rev.  W.  C.  Shipman.*     .... 

a 

Oct.  16,  1848. 
fi 

June  4,  1854. 

1856 
« 

1858 
1861 

Mrs.  Jane  8.  Shipman.  A     . 
Rev.  Wm.  O.  Baldwin  
Mrs.  Mary  P.  Baldwin.        .        ... 
Mr.  Wm.  A.  Spooner  
Mrs.  Eliza  Ann  Spooner.     . 
Rev.  Anderson  O.  Forbes.  A   .         .         .   < 

it 

Nov.  28,  1854. 
ft 

April  16,  1855. 
« 

1857 

I860 
« 
if 

<( 

In  connection  with  this  sketch,  it  will  be  proper  briefly  to  refer  to 
operations  at  the  Islands  by  Roman  Catholic,  Mormon,  and  "  Re- 
formed Catholic "  missionaries,  whose  efforts  have  not  been  without 
influence  upon  the  prosperity  of  that  evangelizing  work  which  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Board  have  prosecuted. 

ROMAN  CATHOLICS. 

Early  in  the  history  of  the  mission  (in  1825),  a  French  adventurer, 
by  the  name  of  Rives,  left  the  Islands,  and  went  to  France,  where, 
pretending  to  be  a  large  landholder  at  the  Islands,  and  to  have 
much  influence,  he  applied  for  priests  to  establish  a  Papal  mission. 
In  1826  the  Pope  appointed  an  Apostolic  Prefect  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  He  arrived  at  Honolulu,  with  two  other  priests  and  four  lay- 
men, in  July,  1827.  They  landed  privately,  in  disregard  of  the  law 
which  required  foreigners  to  obtain  permission  before  landing.  Ordered 
to  leave,  they  still  remained,  in  disregard  of  law,  and  connected  them- 
selves with  a  chief  who  was  manifesting  a  disposition  to  resist  the 
authority  of  the  Regent.  Having  opened  a  chapel,  it  was  at  once 
reported  that  they  worshiped  images ;  and  the  chiefs  feared  that 
their  old  religion,  with  all  its  evil  tendencies,  was  about  to  be  re- 
vived. Continuing  to  identify  themselves  with  a  party  of  malcon- 
tents, the  rulers  had  much  trouble  with  them,  a  conspiracy  seemed 
fast  ripening,  and  at  length,  in  April,  1831,  the  chiefs  passed  a  formal 
order,  requiring  these  foreign  priests,  who  were  there  without  author- 
ity, and  who  were  regarded  as  abettors  of  rebellion  and  promoters  of 
vice,  to  leave  the  Islands.  Still  they  did  not  go,  and  in  December 
the  government  fitted  out  a  vessel  and  sent  them  to  California.  In 


SKETCH   OP  THE   HAWAIIAN   MISSION.  21 

all  this  the  authorities  acted  upon  their  own  views  of  what  was  right 
and  necessary  in  the  case,  while  the  American  missionaries  discoun- 
tenanced anything  that  would  be  regarded  as  an  interference  with 
religious  liberty. 

In  1836  another  Papal  priest  came,  and  was  forbidden  to  remain. 
He,  however,  like  the  former  company,  evaded  repeated  orders  to 
leave,  and  in  the  spring  of  1837  he  was  joined  by  two  of  the  ban- 
ished priests,  returned  from  California.  The  captains  of  an  English 
and  of  a  French  war  vessel  now  interfered,  to  prevent  their  being  at 
once  compelled  again  to  depart ;  but  those  who  had  returned  from 
California  did  leave  in  the  autumn.  In  December  the  government 
forbade  the  teaching  of  "the  Pope's  religion."  In  July,  1839,  the 
frigate  L'Artemise,  Captain  Laplace,  visited  Honolulu,  and  compelled 
the  authorities  to  sign  a  treaty  declaring  the  Catholic  worship  free, 
and  giving  a  site  for  a  Catholic  church  at  Honolulu.  A  footing  was 
thus  forcibly  secured  for  Papal  priests  and  influence,  and  the  report 
of  the  American  Board  for  the  next  year,  1840,  states,  "  The  influence 
of  Popery  begins  to  be  disastrously  seen  on  the  Island  of  Oahu.  It 
is  adverse  to  learning,  religion,  morals,  and  social  order.  For  this 
very  reason,  the  best  part  of  the  native  population  regard  it  with 
dread  and  aversion.  But  it  could  not  be  expected  that  all  of  such  a 
people,  just  emerging  from  utter  ignorance  and  idolatry,  would  see 
the  errors  or  resist  the  inticements  of  the  priests  thus  forced  upon  the 
toleration  of  the  government.  The  Papal  religion  has  maintained  its 
ground,  and,  according  to  the  report  of  the  bishop  a  few  years  since, 
it  would  appear  that  about  one  third  of  the  population  of  the  Islands 
profess  to  be,  or  at  least  are  claimed  as,  "  Catholics." 

THE  MOEMONS. 

The  teachers  of  doctrines  yet  more  opposed  to  the  gospel  plan  of 
salvation  reached  the  Islands  about  1850.  Writing  in  February, 
1851,  Mr.  Lyons  stated  that  two  Mormons,  "  an  elder  and  a  prophet," 
from  Salt  Lake,  had  appeared  on  Hawaii,  belonging  to  "  a  company 
of  ten,  scattered  in  pairs  over  the  Islands."  They  and  others  have 
labored  zealously  to  propagate  the  Mormon  doctrines,  but  not  with 
great  success.  When  Dr.  Anderson  visited  the  Islands,  in  1863,  he 
found  their  principal  settlement  on  Lanai,  a  small  island  opposite 
Lahaina,  but  gained  no  reliable  information  as  to  their  numbers,  say- 
ing, however,  that  in  1861,  Captain  Gibson,  "their  leading  man  on 
the  island,"  writing  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  stated  their 
number  of  adults  at  3,580. 


22  SKETCH   OP  THE  HAWAIIAN  MISSION. 

"  REFORMED  CATHOLICS." 

Bishop  Staley,  from  England,  and  two  presbyters,  belonging  to  the 
"  High  Church,"  "  Ritualistic  "  portion  of  the  English  Established 
Church,  reached  Honolulu  in  October,  1862.  Styling  themselves 
"  Reformed  Catholics,"  they,  and  others  who  have  followed  them  in 
the  same  mission,  have  from  the  outset  pursued  a  course  adverse  to 
the  interests  of  the  American  mission,  and  of  Evangelical  Protestant 
Christianity ;  manifesting  more  sympathy  for,  and  more  readiness  to 
fellowship  with,  the  Papal  than  the  Protestant  preachers  and  church, 
and  in  their  worship,  their  readings  and  drapings,  and  their  many 
ceremonies,  approaching  far  more  nearly  to  the  formalism  of  Rome 
than  to  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel.  But  though  countenanced  by 
the  king,  and  by  others  in  high  places,  they  seem  to  have  found  it 
difficult  to  interest  very  many  of  the  people  in  then*  new  form  of 
religion.  It  has  been  too  showy,  too  much  like  the  Roman  Catholic, 
for  their  religious  tastes  and  convictions.  The  precise  statistics  of 
the  mission  cannot  be  given.  Bishop  Staley  has  now  been  for  some 
time  in  England,  but  there  are  presbyters  and  "  sisters  "  at  the  Islands, 
occupying,  it  is  supposed,  four  stations  at  least,  —  Honolulu,  Lahaina, 
Kona,  and  Wailiiku,  —  with  schools  for  boys  and  for  girls,  as  well 
as  preaching  services.  How  many  they  number,  as  connected  with 
their  church  or  congregations,  is  not  known. 


SKETCH  OF  THE  MICRONESIA  MISSION. 


THE  mission  church  must  in  due  time  turn  missionary.  So  rightly 
reasoned  the  members  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  mission.  Thirty  years 
had  elapsed ;  fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  year  were  collected  at  the 
monthly  concert ;  the  first  native  pastor  had  been  ordained  by  a 
council  of  native  churches  ;  and  in  the  same  year,  the  members  of 
the  mission  proposed  that  Hawaiian  Christians  should  carry  the  gos- 
pel to  other  islands.  The  Prudential  Committee  at  Boston  warmly 
approved  the  proposal.  Another  year  (1850)  saw  the  "Hawaiian 
Missionary  Society  "  formed  at  Honolulu. 

Two  thousand  miles  away,  to  the  south-west  of  Honolulu,  lie  an  im- 
mense number  of  islands  —  two  thousand  or  more — now  embraced 
under  the  general  name  of  Micronesia  —  "  The  Little  Islands." 
Scattered  in  groups,  known  by  various  appellations  —  Ladrones, 
Carolines,  and  the  like  —  they  stretch  from  three  degrees  south  to 
twenty  degrees  north  of  the  equator,  and  were  then  supposed  to  con- 
tain a  population  of  two  hundred  thousand.  Many  of  them  were 
built  wholly  by  the  coral  insect,  and  lie  flat  upon  the  water,  while  a 
few  of  them  are  basaltic  islands,  with  mountains  two  or  three  thou- 
sand feet  in  height.  These  various  groups  differ  in  language  and  in 
the  details  of  their  customs  and  superstitions,  but  agree  in  the  general 
characteristics  of  their  native  occupants.  They  are  the  natural  homes 
of  indolence  and  sensuality,  of  theft  and  violence.  The  warmth  of 
the  climate  renders  clothing  a  superfluity,  and  houses  needless  except 
for  shade  ;  while  the  constant  vegetation  of  the  tropics  dispenses  with 
accumulated  stores  of  food.  A  race  of  tawny  savages  stalk  round 
almost  or  quite  naked,  swim  like  fish  in  the  waters,  or  bask  in  the 
sunshine  on  shore.  They  prove  as  ready  to  catch,  as  vile  sailors  are 
to  communicate,  the  vices  of  civilized  lands.  Intemperance  is  an 
easily  besetting  sin  -f  and  licentiousness  is,  with  rare  exceptions,  the 

(23) 


24  SKETCH   OP  THE   MICRONESIA  MISSION. 

general  and  almost  ineradicable  pollution  of  the  Pacific  Islands.  But 
in  the  Kingsmill  group,  the  missionaries  found  a  people  who,  though 
practicing  polygamy,  held  in  honor  the  chastity  of  woman. 

The  attention  of  the  missionaries  was  turned  to  three  of  these 
groups  of  islands  —  the  Caroline,  the  Marshall,  or  Mulgrave,  and  the 
Kingsmill,  or  Gilbert  Islands. 

The  eastern  portion  of  the  Caroline  chain  was  naturally  fixed 
upon  as  the  centre  of  operations,  by  reason  of  the  convenient 
location  and  healthful  climate.  Two  of  these,  Kusaie  and  Ponape, 
were  tbe  first  to  be  occupied.  Ponape  —  or  Ascension  Island  — 
is  a  high  basaltic  island,  sixty  miles  in  circumference,  surrounded 
by  ten  smaller  basaltic  islands,  all  inclosed  within  a  coral  reef. 
It  rises  to  the  height  of  2,850  feet,  and  has  its  rivers  and 
waterfalls.  The  island  is  a  physical  paradise,  with  a  delightful 
climate  —  in  which  the  range  of  the  thermometer  for  three  years  was 
but  seventeen  degrees,  and  with  a  various  and  luxuriant  vegetation. 
Among  the  indigenous  products  are  the  breadfruit,  banana,  cocoanut, 
taro,  sugar-cane,  ava,  arrowroot,  sassafras,  sago,  wild  orange,  and 
mango,  with  an  immense  variety  of  timber  trees ;  while  lemons, 
oranges,  pine.-apples,  coffee,  tamarinds,  guava,  tobacco,  and  other 
exotics,  thrive  abundantly.  From  the  mangrove  trees  that  line  the 
shore,  the  ground  rises  by  a  series  of  natural  terraces  ;  and  while 
twenty  varieties  of  birds  fill  the  air  with  life,  a  population  of  five 
thousand  people  are  so  hidden  in  the  overhanging  forests  and  shrub- 
bery, that,  but  for  an  occasional  canoe,  or  a  smoke  ascending,  the 
passing  vessel  would  scarcely  know  it  to  be  inhabited.  The  inhab- 
itants seem  to  be  of  Malay  descent,  and  the  place  was  "  a  moral 
Sodom." 

Kusaie  —  or  Strong's  Island  —  the  easternmost  of  the  Carolines, 
is  one  of  a  small  cluster,  and  is  about  thirty  miles  in  circumference. 
It  rises  to  the  height  of  2,000  feet,  wooded  to  the  summit ;  and  it 
then  contained  some  1,500  people,  strongly  Asiatic  both  in  look  and 
speech.  Here  polygamy  was  unknown,  and  labor  comparatively 
honorable.  Many  of  the  inhabitants,  with  an  unusual  quickness  of 
apprehension,  had  learned  of  foreigners  a  kind  of  broken  English 
before  the  missionaries  arrived;  and  the  "Good  King  George,"  as  his 
subjects  called  him,  had,  with  surprising  wisdom,  forbidden  the  tapping 
of  the  cocoanut  tree  for  the  manufacture  of  intoxicating  drink. 

North-east  of  Kusaie  lie  the  Marshall  —  sometimes  called  Mulgrave 
—  Islands  ;  subdivided  into  the  Radack  and  Ralick  —  or  eastern  and 
western  —  chains.  About  thirty  principal  islands  compose  the  group. 
They  are  all  of  coral  formation,  but  much  higher,  more  fertile  and 


SKETCH   OP  THE  MICRONESIA   MISSION.  25 

inviting,  than  the  Gilbert  group  south  of  them.  Majuro,  or  Arrow- 
smith,  for  example,  is  described  as  a  magnificent  island,  rising  eight 
or  ten  feet  above  the  water  at  the  landing-place,  sprinkled  with  forests 
of  breadfruit  and  pandanus  trees,  and  abounding  with  cocoanuts  and 
bananas.  The  population  of  the  whole  group  was  estimated  at 
twelve  thousand  or  upwards,  speaking,  to  some  extent,  different 
languages.  They  had  been  comparatively  uncontaminated  by  foreign 
intercourse,  from  their  reputation  for  ferocity.  Several  vessels  had 
been  cut  off  by  them,  and  a  great  number  of  foreigners  killed  at  dif- 
ferent times,  in  retaliation  for  a  former  deadly  attack  upon  the 
natives.  The  residence  of  the  king  and  principal  chiefs  was  at 
Ebon  Island.  The  natives  are  in  some  respects  superior  to  many 
of  the  Pacific  islanders.  Their  features  are  sharper,  their  persons 
spare  and  athletic,  and  their  countenances  vivacious.  The  women 
wear  their  hair  smoothly  parted  on  the  forehead,  and  neatly  rolled  up 
in  the  neck  —  sometimes  adorned  with  flowers  ;  and  their  skirts,  fine, 
and  beautifully  braided  and  bordered,  extend  from  the  waist  to  the 
feet.  The  men  exhibit  much  more  skill  than  is  common  in  this 
region,  and  are  fond  of  ornaments.  Their  comparative  intelligence 
and  exemption  from  foreign  influence  constituted  the  inviting  aspect 
of  this  case ;  their  alleged  ferocity,  the  formidable  feature. 

Directly  south  of  the  Marshall  Islands,  on  both  sides  of  the 
equator,  lie  the  Kingsmill,  or  Gilbert  Islands.  Fifteen  or  sixteen 
principal  islands,  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of  islets,  raised  by  the 
coral  insect  barely  above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  contain  a  population 
of  thirty  or  forty  thousand,  speaking  mostly  a  common  language, 
resembling  the  Hawaiian.  The  land  is  densely  covered  with  cocoa- 
nut  groves.  This  is  the  "  tree  of  a  thousand  uses,"  furnishing  the 
natives  almost  "  everything  they  eat,  drink,  wear,  live  in,  or  use  in 
any  way/'  Their  hats,  clothing,  mats  and  cords  are  made  from  its 
leaves  ;  their  houses  are  built  from  its  timber ;  they  eat  the  fruit, 
drink  the  milk,  make  molasses  and  rum  from  its  juice,  and  manufac- 
ture from  it  immense  quantities  of  oil  for  use  and  for  sale.  Their 
religion  is  the  loosest  system  of  spirit-worship,  without  priest,  idol, 
or  temple.  They  practice  polygamy.  The  children  go  naked  for 
ten  or  twelve  years.-  The  men  wear  a  girdle,  and  the  women  a 
broader  mat  around  them.  Their  appearance  of  nudity  is  relieved 
by  the  tattooing,  with  which  they  are  profusely  and  skillfully  adorned. 
The  considerable  population,  the  unity  of  origin,  faith,  and  language, 
and  the  general  resemblance  of  their  speech  to  the  Hawaiian,  rendered 
this  group  inviting,  especially  to  the  Sandwich  Island  laborers, 
although  its  torrid  sun,  comparatively  barren  soil,  and  limited  range 


26  SKETCH   OP  THE  MICRONESIA   MISSION. 

of  vegetation,  made  it  not  altogether  favorable  for  the  American 
missionaries'  home. 

Such  was  the  region  to  which  the  gospel  was  to  be  carried.  On 
the  18th  of  November,  1851,  missionaries  Snow  and  Gulick,  with 
their  wives,  left  Boston  in  the  Esther  May,  and  two  months  afterward, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sturges,  in  the  Snow  Squall,  for  Micronesia  by  way  of 
the  Sandwich  Islands.  Seven  native  Hawaiians  were  ready  to  join 
them ;  but  two  only,  with  their  wives,  were  selected  for  the  opening 
of  the  mission.  The  native  churches  made  liberal  contributions  for 
their  outfit  and  support.  King  Kamehameha  III.  gave  them  a  noble 
letter  of  commendation  to  the  Micronesian  chiefs.  A  mission  church 
was  organized  early  in  July,  1852,  and  on  the  15th  of  the  same 
month,  just  thirty-three  years,  or  one  whole  generation,  from  the 
date  of  the  former  parting  at  Long  Wharf  in  Boston,  the  like  scene 
took  place  in  the  harbor  of  Honolulu.  A  crowd  of  natives  thronged 
the  shore  as  the  missionaries  put  off  for  the  schooner  Caroline.  On 
the  deck  of  the  schooner  there  is  a  prayer  in  Hawaiian  and  another 
in  English,  a  verse  of  the  Missionary  Hymn,  a  shaking  of  friendly 
hands  ;  and  with  a  gentle  breeze  the  vessel  glides  away. 

The  Caroline  arrived  at  the  Gilbert  Islands,  and  on  the  21st  of 
August  anchored  at  Kusaie.  The  missionaries  were  pleasantly  re- 
ceived by  "  Good  King  George,"  in  a  faded  flannel  shirt,  while  his 
wife  sat  by  in  a  short  cotton  gown,  and  his  subjects  approached  him 
crouching  on  their  hands  and  knees.  He  consented  to  the  mission, 
gave  them  supplies,  promised  them  land  and  a  house,  and  on  hearing 
the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Romans,  and  witnessing  their  worship,  he 
pronounced  both  to  be  "  first  rate."  Messrs.  Snow,  Opunui,  and 
then*  wives,  commenced  their  work  in  this  isolated  place,  where  at 
one  time  they  passed  a  period  of  two  full  years  without  a  letter  from 
America.  A  fortnight  later  the  Caroline  anchored  in  the  land-locked 
harbor  of  Ponape,  where  the  king  came  on  board,  and,  after  some 
conversation,  told  them  it  should  be  "  good  for  them  to  stop."  And 
here  Messrs.  Sturges,  Gulick,  Kaaikaula,  and  their  wives,  were  soon 
established  in  then*  new  home. 

In  1854  they  were  followed  by  Dr.  Pierson  and  the  native  Hawaiian, 
Kanoa.  These  brethren  brought  a  blessing  to  the  crew  of  the  whaling 
bark  Belle,  that  carried  them ;  her  three  mates  were  converted  on 
the  voyage.  As  they  cruised  among  the  Marshall  Islands  on  their 
way  to  Kusaie,  by  a  good  providence  the  King's  sister  —  a  remarkable 
woman  —  took  passage  from  Ebon  to  another  island,  became  attached 
to  the  missionaries,  and  spoke  their  praises  at  every  island  where  they 
touched.  The  missionaries  proceeded  on  their  voyage  to  Kusaie,  but 


SKETCH   OP  THE   MICRONESIA    MISSION.  27 

with  a  deep  conviction  that  the  Lord  was  calling  them  back  to  the 
Marshall  group. 

At  length  (1857)  the  Morning  Star,  the  children's  vessel,  heaves  in 
sight  at  Kusaie.  She  brings  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bingham,  and  Kanakaole 
with  his  wife,  on  their  way  to  the  Marshall  and  the  Gilbert  Islands. 
They  are  joined  here  by  Messrs.  Pierson  and  Doane,  and  sail  for  their 
destination.  As  they  set  out  for  Ebon  Island,  of  the  Marshall  group, 
they  are  solemnly  warned  by  old  sea-captains  of  the  danger  that 
awaits  them  from  that  ferocious  people.  On  approaching  the  island, 
the  captain  put  up  his  boarding  nettings,  stationed  his  men  fore  and 
aft,  and  anxiously  awaited  the  issue.  Fifteen  canoes  drew  near, 
jammed  full  of  men.  In  the  prow  of  the  foremost  stood  a  powerful 
man,  with  a  wreath  on  his  head  and  huge  rings  in  his  ears;  On  they 
came  ;  but  in  the  same  instant  Dr.  Pierson  and  the  savage  recognized 
each  other  as  old  acquaintances,  and  the  savage  came  on  board  shout- 
ing, "  Docotor,  docotor,"  in  perfect  delight.  Many  months  before, 
it  seems,  this  man  and  a  hundred  others  had  been  driven  by  a  storm 
upon  Kusaie,  where  the  missionaries  had  rescued  them,  and  befriended 
them  with  food  and  medicine ;  and  they  had  returned  to  their  homes 
in  peace.  So  the  Lord  befriended  the  missionaries  in  turn,  and  pre- 
pared them  a  welcome  among  the  so-called  "  cannibals."  And  when, 
after  a  further  cruise  of  thirty  days,  the  Morning  Star  returned  to  leave 
the  missionaries  at  Ebon,  they  were  met  on  the  water  by  twenty  canoe 
loads  of  people,  shouting,  singing,  and  dancing  for  joy.  On  the  shore 
they  were  received  with  every  demonstration  of  friendship ;  and  the 
aged  female  chief,  who  had  once  sailed  with  Dr.  Piersort  among  the 
islands,  took  him  by  both  hands  and  led  him  joyfully  to  her  house. 
On  the  same  voyage  Mr.  Bingham  and  Kanoa  were  set  down  at 
Apaiang,  of  the  Gilbert  group,  where  the  king  gave  them  a  pleasant 
home. 

Thus  was  the  gospel  first  carried  to  these  three  groups  of  islands  ; 
and  here  we  leave  them,  and  their  fellow-laborers  that  followed  them, 
chiefly  Hawaiians,  at  their  self-denying  toils.  We  will  briefly  sketch 
the  progress  of  the  work  on  the  principal  island,  Ponape,  as  a  speci- 
men of  the  whole.  Here  the  king,  though  almost  helpless  with  the 
palsy,  was  friendly  to  the  enterprise ;  while  the  Nanakin,  his  chief 
officer,  expressed  himself  warmly,  and  received  an  English  book  with 
the  avowed  determination  to  learn  to  read  it ;  "  the  cooper  should 
teach  him  how,  or  he  would  pound  him."  Two  short  months  sufficed 
to  awaken  the  enmity  of  unprincipled  foreigners.  Two  captains  had 
bought  one  of  the  small  islands,  and  made  out  a  deed  for  the  Nanakin 
to  sign.  He  brought  it  to  the  missionaries,  who  found  it  to  contain 


28  SKETCH   OF  THE  MICRONESIA   MISSION. 

the  grossest  frauds,  including  even  the  forgery  of  the  Nanakin' s  sig- 
nature. The  exposure  of  course  created  hostility.  Six  months 
brought  fifteen  vessels  ;  and  though  in  most  instances  the  captains 
were  friendly,  and  even  kind,  every  arrival  was  attended  with  deplorable 
influences  on  the  morals  of  the  native  women.  Then  came  the  open- 
ing of  a  school,  some  of  the  scholars  sitting  patiently  for  six  long 
hours  to  get  an  opportunity  to  steal.  Then  came  the  small-pox ;  and 
before  the  end  of  the  first  year,  it  had  carried  off  multitudes  of  the 
inhabitants,  broken  up  the  school,  arrested  all  plans  of  labor,  pros- 
trated the  Hawaiian  preacher,  and  produced  a  general  recklessness 
and  bitterness  of  feeling  through  the  island.  To  add  to  the  evil,  the 
vaccine  matter  received  from  the  Sandwich  Islands  proved  worthless ; 
and  wicked  foreigners  circulated  the  report  that  the  missionaries  had 
introduced  and  were  spreading  the  disease.  By  resorting  boldly  to 
inoculation,  and  beginning  with  the  Nanakin,  the  missionaries  at 
length  saved  many  lives  and  regained  confidence.  In  the  midst  of 
this  calamity,  Mr.  Sturges's  house  burned  up,  with  all  its  contents, 
driving  him  and  his  family  to  the  woods.  Hostilities  arose  also  #mong 
the  tribes,  attended  with  robberies  and  murders ;  and  the  sailors 
continued  to  bring  moral  pollution.  One  day,  in  his  accustomed 
tour,  Mr.  Sturges  passed  near  three  brothels,  all  kept  by  foreigners. 
But  the  missionaries  toiled  on,  resumed  their  schools,  gathered  their 
growing  congregations,  privately  sowed  the  good  seed,  and  in  four 
years'  time  were  printing  hymns  and  Old  Testament  stories  in  Pona-- 
pean.  After  a  night  of  eight  years,  three  converts  were  at  one 
time  received  to  their  little  church,  followed  by  eight  others  soon  ; 
and  meanwhile  a  little  church  of  six  members  was  formed  in  another 
part  of  the  island.  Revivals  brought  opposition  and  more  or  less  of 
persecution.  At  length  a  chapel  is  built  in  the  mountains  by  native 
hands,  and  at  the  principal  station  a  church  edifice,  forty  feet  by  sixty, 
solemnly  dedicated  to  God.  Hardly  was  it  consecrated,  when  the 
Morning  Star  arrived  with  an  eight  hundred  pound  bell,  the  gift  of 
friends  in  Illinois ;  and  within  a  fortnight  the  Nanakin,  with  his  wife 
and  fourteen  other  converts,  sat  down  at  the  table  of  the  Lord.  The 
chief  had  vibrated  back  and  forth  —  now  proclaiming  Sabbath  ob- 
servance, breaking  up  five  brothels,  and  following  the  missionary 
round  the  island,  and  now  distributing  "toddy"  profusely  among 
the  people  —  till  at  length  the  Lord  brought  him  in.  'Half  the 
islanders  had  by  this  time  yielded  an  outward  deference  to  the  true 
religion.  Early  in  the  year  1867,  there  were  religious  services  regu- 
larly held  at  twelve  principal  places,  a  thousand  readers,  161  church 
members  in  good  standing,  and  numbers  of  converts  soon  to  be 


SKETCH   OF   THE  MICRONESIA   MISSION. 


received.  Three  new  churches  had  been  erected  by  the  natives  within 
two  years,  in  one  of  which  (in  May,  1867)  one  hundred  communi- 
cants sat  down  to  the  Lord's  table  in  the  presence  of  six  hundred 
spectators,  on  the  very  spot  where,  fourteen  years  before,  Mr.  Sturges 
was  near  being  overcome  and  robbed  ;  and  another  of  these  churches, 
just  built,  though  seating  five  hundred  persons,  will  soon  need  to  be 
enlarged.  At  Kusaie,  there  are  183  church  members,  of  whom  93 
were  received  in  1867.  Three  stone  chapels  had  just  been  erected,  four 
native  deacons  ordained,  and  the  eye  of  the  missionary  turned  to  one 
man  —  the  only  living  child  of  "  good  King  George  " —  for  a  native 
pastor ;  while  the  influence  of  the  churches  is  reacting  on  the  sailors. 
There  are  about  sixty  church  members  now  at  the  Marshall  Islands, 
and  the  prospects  are  eminently  hopeful.  In  the  Gilbert  group  it  is 
still  seed-time,  but  the  knowledge  is  spreading  from  island  to  island. 

Among  the  laborers  are  ten  Hawaiian  missionaries,  who  have  toiled 
wisely  and  faithfully.  On  many  of  these  islands  the  population  is 
steadily  growing  less.  Possibly  the  religious  books  that  now  exist 
in  these  several  tongues  may  one  day  lie,  like  Eliot's  Indian  Bible, 
without  a  reader ;  but  they  will  be  monuments  of  noble  Christian  self- 
denial,  and  mementoes  of  souls  gathered  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

The  following  persons  have  been  sent  from  the  United  States  to 
the  Micronesia  mission  :  — 


NAMES. 

Sailed  for  the 
Mission. 

Left  or 
Released. 

Died. 

Rev.  B.  G.  Snow  

Nov.  18,  1851. 

Mrs.  Lydia  V.  Snow.  *         ... 
Rev.  L.  H.  Gulick  
Mrs.  Louisa  G.  Gulick. 

« 

« 
ii 
Jan.  17,  1852. 

Mrs.  Susan.  M.  Sturgess.    . 
Rev.  E.  T.  Doane  

<( 
June  4,  1854. 

Mrs.  S.  W.  W.  Doane.*      . 
Mrs.  Clara  C.  Doane  
Rev.  Geo.  Pierson,  M.  D.   .         .        . 
Mrs.  Nancy  A.  Pierson. 
Rev.  Hiram  Bingham,  Jr.   . 
Mrs.  Minerva  C.  Bingham. 
Rev.  Eph.  P.  Roberts.          .         .        .    • 
Mrs.  Myra  H.  Roberts  

(i 

May,  1865. 

Nov.  28,  1854. 
« 

Dec.  2,  1857. 

(C 

June  24,  1858. 
ii 

'59  or  '60 
« 

1862 

M 

1863 

According  to  the  latest  statistics  received,  the  church  members,  in 
regular  standing,  in  Micronesia,  were  —  on  Ponape,  1 78 ;  Kusaie,  1 79 ; 
Ebon,  80  ;  Apaiang,  8.  Total,  445  ;  of  whom  144  had  been  received 
within  the  last  year.  This  number  of  church  members,  it  is  well 
said  in  a  general  letter  from  the  mission,  "  does  not  indicate  all  that 
has  been  wrought  by  the  saving  power  of  the  gospel." 


SKETCH  OF  THE  MARQUESAS  MISSION. 


IT  remains  to  say  a  few  words  of  the  Marquesas.  The  mission 
here  is  in  every  aspect  most  remarkable,  whether  we  consider  the 
character  of  the  people,  the  origin,  the  agency,  or  the  influence  of 
the  mission.  The  Marquesas  Islands,  six  in  number,  are  situated 
nearly  as  far  from  Micronesia  as  from  Hawaii.  They  are  of  volcanic 
formation,  their  mountains  rising  to  the  height  of  four  or  five  thousand 
feet,  with  a  wonderful  grandeur  and  variety  of  scenery.  The  climate 
is  fine,  and  the  valleys  unsurpassed  in  fertility,  abounding  in  all  man- 
ner of  tropical  fruits  and  vegetation.  The  fruits  hang  temptingly 
upon  the  trees,  or  drop  on  the  ground.  The  islands  contain  about 
8,000  people,  of  Malay  origin,  speaking  a  language  very  similar  to 
the  Hawaiian.  The  natives  have  fine  athletic  forms,  great  vivacity 
and  quick  apprehension,  but  are  to  the  last  degree  impatient  of  labor 
and  control.  They  are,  in  fact,  among  the  most  lawless,  quarrelsome, 
and  ferocious  of  the  tribes  of  men.  They  have  no  acknowledged 
form  of  government.  The  individual  gluts  his  revenge  unhindered  ; 
and  the  clans  in  the  various  valleys  are  in  perpetual  warfare.  The 
bodies  of  the  slain  are  cut  in  pieces,  and  distributed  among  the  clan 
to  be  devoured,  the  little  children  even  partaking  of  the  horrid  meal. 
In  1859,  when  the  whale-ship  Tarlight  was  wrecked  off  the  island 
of  Hivaoa,  the  natives  conspired  to  massacre  the  crew  in  order  to 
plunder  the  vessel  —  though  in  both  objects  they  were  frustrated. 
The  community  cannot  have  forgotten  the  letter  of  President  Lincoln 
to  the  missionary  Kekela,  a  few  years  ago,  thanking  him  forhis  services 
in  rescuing  the  mate  of  an  American  ship,  Mr.  Whalon,  from  being 
roasted  and  eaten  by  these  cannibals.  The  disposition  of  the  natives 
is  to  some  degree  symbolized  by  their  personal  appearance  —  the 
men  hideously  tattooed  with  lizards,  snakes,  birds,  and  fishes,  and  the 
women  smeared  with  cocoanut  oil  and  turmeric.  Add  to  this  the 

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SKETCH   OF    THE    MARQUESAS   MISSION.  31 

most  oppressive  system  of  tabus,  so  that,  for  example,  the  father,  the 
mother,  and  the  grown-up  daughter  must  all  eat  apart  from  each 
other,  and  we  have  some  idea  of  the  obstacles  to  the  Christian 
religion  in  those  islands. 

Some  years  ago,  a  Hawaiian  youth  was  left  by  a  vessel  at  these 
islands,  sick.  He  recovered,  and  by  his  superior  knowledge  became 
a  man  of  importance,  and  married  the  daughter  of  the  High  Chief, 
Mattunui.  The  father-in-law  was  so  impressed  with  his  acquisitions, 
which,  as  he  learned,  were  derived  from  the  missionaries,  that  after 
consultation  with  the  other  chiefs,  he  embarked  for  Lahaina,  to  seek 
missionaries  for  Marquesas.  This  was  in  1853.  The  Hawaiian 
Society  felt  that  the  call  was  from  God.  Two  native  pastors  — 
one  of  them  Kekela  —  and  two  native  teachers,  accompanied  by  their 
wives,  were  deputed  to  go.  They  were  welcomed  with  joy.  Mattunui 
sat  up  all  night  to  tell  of  the  "  strange  things  "  he  saw  and  heard  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  ;  and  an  audience  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  listened 
to  preaching  on  the  following  Sabbath.  The  missionaries  entered  at 
once  on  their  various  forms  of  Christian  activity,  organizing  their 
schools,  and  in  due  time  translating  the  Gospel  of  John.  One 
foreigner  alone  was  with  them,  —  Mr.  Bicknell,  an  English  mechanic, 
a  noble  man,  afterwards  ordained  a  preacher ;  otherwise  the  whole 
enterprise  was  Hawaiian.  Roman  Catholic  priests  hurried  at  once 
to  the  islands,  but  the  Hawaiian  preachers  held  on,  amid  immense 
discouragements,  with  great  energy  and  perseverance,  and  with 
admirable  good  sense.  At  length  God  gave  them  the  first  convert, 
Abraham  Natua.  Soon  after  this  the  missionaries  determined  to 
break  down  the  system  of  tabus,  and  a  great  feast  was  gotten  up  on 
the  mission  premises,  at  which  the  High  Chief,  Mattunui,  and  many 
others,  sat  down  for  the  first  time  with  their  wives,  and  broke  through 
the  system  in  every  available  direction.  It  was  a  grand  blow  at  the 
whole  institution.  In  four  years  the  intolerable  thievishness  of  the 
natives  was  so  far  checked  within  the  range  of  the  missions,  that 
clothing  could  be  exposed  and  the  mission  premises  could  be  left 
unlocked  the  entire  day,  with  perfect  safety.  Urgent  calls  came 
from  various  parts  of  the  islands  for  missionaries —  five  or  six  pieces 
of  land,  more  than  could  be  occupied,  being  given  in  Hivaoa  alone. 
Converts  came  dropping  in  slowly,  one  by  one  at  first ;  and  a  quiet 
and  powerful  influence  has  been  diffusing  itself  through  the  islands, 
and  filling  the  minds  of  these  devoted  preachers  with  great  hopes  of 
the  future.  In  1867  there  were  eleven  male  and  female  missionaries 
at  the  island,  who  had  organized  five  churches  with  fifty- seven  mem- 
bers, and  were  about  to  establish  a  boarding  school  for  boys  and 

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32  SKETCH   OF  THE   MARQUESAS  MISSION. 

another  for  girls.  And  in  1868  Mr.  Coan,  who  had  just  visited  the 
islands,  wrote  thus  :  "  The  light  and  love  and  gravitating  power 
of  the  gospel  are  permeating  the  dead  masses  of  the  Marquesans. 
Scores  already  appear  as  true  disciples  of  Jesus.  Scores  can  read  the 
word  of  the  living  God,  and  it  is  a  power  within  them.  Hundreds 
have  forsaken  the  tabus,  and  hundreds  of  others  hold  them  lightly. 
Consistent  missionaries  and  their  teachings  are  respected.  Their 
lives  and  persons  are  sacred  where  human  life  is  no  more  regarded 
than  that  of  a  dog.  They  go  secure  where  others  dare  not  go.  They 
leave  houses,  wives,  and  children  without  fear,  and  savages  protect 
them.  Everywhere  we  see  evidence  of  the  silent  and  sure  progress 
of  truth,  and  we  rest  assured  that  the  time  to  favor  the  dark  Mar- 
quesans has  come."  Whether  we  view  the  people  on  whom  or  the 
people  by  whom  this  power  has  been  put  forth,  we  see  alike  a  signal 
movement  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 


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